Short Summary

School children from Clea, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, together with their teachers and headmaster, crossed into Israel on Monday (24 January) to visit the children at the primary school in the town of Metullah
SYNOPSIS: Since the end of the Lebanese civil war last year, civilians have been able to cross the border into Israel.

Description

School children from Clea, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, together with their teachers and headmaster, crossed into Israel on Monday (24 January) to visit the children at the primary school in the town of Metullah
SYNOPSIS: Since the end of the Lebanese civil war last year, civilians have been able to cross the border into Israel. It was after they had received an invitation from the headmaster and pupils of the primary school at Metullah to visit them, just across the border in northern Israel, that the 60 children and teachers, of Clea school made the short trip. For the Lebanese children it would be the first time they entered a proper school building for almost two years. Their school was destroyed by shelling early in the 19-month-long civil war, and they've had to use any building available.

After they were introduced, the Lebanese children exchanged gifts with their hosts. The visitors brought small drawings of cedar tree -- the symbol of Lebanon -- and the Israeli children pinned drawings of a dove with an olive branch in its beak on the shirts of the Lebanese children. Then the children settled down to draw together, and peace was the main theme of their sketches. The visiting lebanese headmaster later asked permission for his pupils to attend the Metullah school until their own could be rebuilt. The Israeli headmaster said he would try to get permission from the defence ministry.